


Forest For the Leaves

by StoryReigns96



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, FemSasuke!, Genderbending, MokutonNaruto!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-01-30 21:04:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21434689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoryReigns96/pseuds/StoryReigns96
Summary: In another dimension, Team 7 looked sort of different. Naruto Senju was the son of the Slug Princess & the Toad Sage, for what it was worth. Satsuki Uchiha was Itachi's kid sister, but no less hellbent on restoring her clan and avenging her parents' deaths. Uzume Namikaze was a Hero's Daughter, and her mom was pretty awesome too, ya know! SenjuNaruto! FemSasuke! NamikazeNaruko!
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 16
Kudos: 45





	1. Enter: Heirs of the Leaf

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: This story is M rated for a reason, contains adult themes, graphic content and coarse language. Seriously, don't read this, if you're squeamish or not used to mature themes.
> 
> Disclaimer: I never really understood the point of disclaimers on a website dedicated to fan fiction aside from a meaningless gesture to cover all your bases, until I came across people on this site begging for monies for a property they don't own. As such, here is a reminder that Naruto was created by Masashi Kishimoto and licensed by Viz Media here in North America. I am making no monetary gain from this and this is not meant to be a replacement for the original work but additive fan material.

"Yo, looks like you're done, Naruto." A tiny orange toad spoke atop his perch on a young boy's head, buried as he was in the boy's messy, pale blonde hair.

Said boy smiled at the news, put the rag and soap bottle back into their holsters on his belt, and turned his eyes upward to the amphibian on top of him, who nodded his hea... whole body at him, before Naruto began the ascent up the Hokage Monument, as he climbed the rope he'd attached to the top.

Walking past the huge stone eye of the First Hokage, Naruto bid farewell, "See you later, Ojii-san!", and continued his trek.

"Yo Naruto, why bother cleaning theses mugs anyway? Did you get in trouble or something?" The toad queried his summoner.

A content Naruto answered, "No, nothing like that."

"So, why'd you do it then?"

Steeling his voice, he answered, "As the last Senju in the village, it's my duty to honour the memories of my ancestors, and I have to think that includes the Great Stone Faces of Ojiisan and Ojisan." Besides, he loved the Hokage Monument, he came here as often as he could in order to escape the village by going as high in the sky as possible, and he would rather it be clean than dirty.

"I only wish the birds around here didn't love it so much." Naruto complained, it was almost like they knew Lord Second had white hair.

Gamakichi laughed at his expense, leaping onto the top and back to solid ground, his toad summons left his head. Naruto stood up, wiped the dust off his clothes, and untied himself.

"Well, I guess I better be getting back to Mount Myoboku before my old man has my warts."

"Okay, thanks for keeping me company, Gamakichi. Say hi to everyone for me." Naruto gave a small wave to his summons goodbye.

Gamakichi flashed a peace sign, "Will do." And vanished in a puff of smoke, returning back home to the legendary Land of Toads.

Naruto sighed and started to make his way down the long path down the Monument, whatever happiness he had felt from his time with Gamakichi soon evaporated once he realized that the closest thing in the world he had to a friend was a toad, and the family members he was closest to were made of granite.

* * *

As he walked down the long staircase back to the village, he began to feel anxious, he was wary of the villagers, because for whatever reason, to say they were wary of him was putting it mildly. So, he put the hood up on his jacket, kept his head down, and hoped he would pass by unnoticed.

He felt the exact moment when he was within fifty meters of the village. He was certain of the figure because that was his limit. If he concentrated and reached out, he could feel it from further away, but within that range, there was no stopping it.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, the feeling hit him. The welling up in his gut, the clenching of his chest, the tingle in his fingers, the pressure pooling behind his eyes, the dull pain in the back of his head...

Everyone was capable of feeling emotions, and this included the hurtful, negative emotions. Whether it was a unique bloodline trait, a fluke of biology, a cosmic coincidence, or divine punishment for some grievous sin he'd committed in a past life, whatever the cause, the result was the same: Naruto felt everyone's negative emotions.

For as long as he could remember, and probably since the day he was born, it had been like this. Naruto would sense the smallest unpleasant vibe to the most terrible states of mind. In a perfect world, this wouldn't have made a difference, but in a hidden village, where most of the population dislikes you, it was hell. Naruto didn't know why people despised him so much, he only knew that they did. He had his suspicions that it had to do with his parents, but that was just another dead end. And the Hokage was not going to tell him anytime soon.

Years of training had helped him to an extent, it had become easier to endure, but no matter how hard he tried, it could never be ignored. At least within a hundred paces of someone in a bad mood.

When he passed the first building into the village, it was simple enough to deal with. 'Just focus on your breathing, the dirt crunching beneath your feet, the sound of footsteps, the air pushing back against your face as you walk against the wind.' Naruto tried to get his mind off it as much as he could.

Realizing he was having some success, he was proud of himself, the negative emotions seemed to be coming in only as white noise, which to someone was used to roaring screams, it was quite the relief.

The Hokage had told him that it might be better for him to try to control his 'ability' by repeated usage rather than running away from it and becoming a slave to its effects. Naruto was afraid that in this case, practice might 'strengthen' his sensing and make the symptoms worse. But there was a part of him, that was desperate to be free from it, to be able to live some sort of normal life.

Eventually, he felt comfortable enough to look up, and tried to focus his senses on specific people.

Reaching out, he found the usual. Most people are just sort of bored as they're walking around. One bored person at a time was actually kind of peaceful for him to sense, but lost adrift in a sea of it and it would quickly make anyone depressed.

His eyes first landed on a purple-haired lady dressed in a trench coat shouting loudly, and dare he say scandalized at the man working behind the counter at the closest dumpling shop, "No red bean paste! No soy sauce! What kind of place are you running here?" She had grabbed the man by collar, pulled him over the counter and was holding a skewer to his throat, all with a menacing look in her eyes. Naruto scurried along quickly deciding that the crazy lady was probably not the best test subject.

_Dissatisfaction._ Regardless of his intent to skip her, he sensed her all the same. While he was confused at this particular case, he was sure that it was indeed that exact emotion. He had read loads of books on emotions, and taken great care to carefully categorize them based on their descriptions, so he would understand what he was feeling. 'She must either really like dumplings, or she needs to work on her conflict resolution skills.'

The next unique emotion came from a young couple arguing as they walked down the street, the man was feeling slightly guilty, but mostly abashed, while the woman was furious, and even more jealous. He wondered why they felt like that and soon found out the answer as they passed by him and he overheard her complaining about him always paying particular attention to the ninja tool holsters of her fellow kunoichi.

For a moment, Naruto felt as if he was invading people's privacy, but put it aside when he came to the realization that they were technically invading his privacy and he was simply gathering reconnaissance so that he might better defend himself.

The man dragged his partner into the Yamanaka Flower Shop, and bought all of their hyacinth, which seemed to work in quelling her fury as he couldn't sense anything from her anymore, soon after that, nothing from him either. He made sure to make note of this for future reference.

In their place, his attention was drawn to an older lady, buying a bouquet of lilies. _Grief._ Naruto wondered who she'd lost, a friend? A spouse? A parent? He wouldn't know, he'd never been close enough to anyone to feel something like loss, he supposed that was a plus. He could tell the loss was dearly felt, but a great deal of time had passed since.

"Come one, come all!" A loud booming voice took him out of his thoughts, and he was drawn to a street vendor plying his trade. _Greed._ It was practically oozing off the man. Naruto decided to make his way over, and sat down across the street from him to watch as things unfolded. For some reason, the salesman seemed to be invoking all kinds of negative emotions from the crowd.

"I have the honour of bringing you fine people, fresh from the World Tree in the Takigakure, genuine, 100% authentic Hero Water!" The man produced a glass bottle filled with what looked like muddy waste.

"Guaranteed to increase your power ten fold!", the man made a bold claim, and Naruto felt a spike of contempt come from the older ninja watching, and he decided to move along before they attempted to put an end to the display themselves.

_Disappointment._ He spun his head around to see a genin squad leaving the barbecue restaurant, all three of them looking downtrodden. However, this feeling too soon disappeared as Naruto heard their Jounin-sensei explain about his genin team had failed the chūnin exams three times before they passed, and that the trio would do better next time.

He should have known better to focus on the worried-looking woman, desperately scanning the streets. But it was hard not to, the woman had long red hair, a shade of which he'd never seen before, and couldn't help but stare. A booming headache emerged in the back of his skull followed by her cries "Uzume!", the beautiful lady shouted, "Uzume, where did you go?!" Naruto froze in place, having to clutch his head to try and soothe the agony. _Panic_. Unfortunately, Naruto could also sense the extent of negative emotions, yet afflicted as he was by the magnitude of the woman's panic, he could not not examine the cause, having to concentrate on breathing as the emotion threatened to strangle his growing lungs, that is until a blond-haired girl came running towards the woman.

"I'm right here, kaa-chan!" the girl laughed, before she was snatched into an embrace, and the pain disappeared in a flash, leaving Naruto to get a hold of himself. Though relieved by the reunion and the end of his headache, he was soon disconcerted at the sight before him.

'Uzume' was a name he recognized, as did many of the other pedestrians walking around the village as they soon swarmed the young girl, crowding around her, singing her praises, and offering them the first choice of their wares. Uzume Namikaze was the daughter of the late Fourth Hokage, Konoha's favourite son, who had sacrificed himself to kill a demon in order to protect the village. The man was a hero of Naruto's, as he was for many. So, in place of the man himself, their praise and adulation had fallen to his daughter, who'd tragically never met the man due to his untimely demise. Even so young as she was, people already whispered that the Hokage was holding out for her to become his successor. 'The Hero's Daughter' was an integral part of the village. Everybody loved her.

Yet, even to someone was alone as he was, it was plain to see that Uzume's mother loved her most of all.

_Envy._

Naruto did not have to search the crowd to find the source of that feeling.

Dropping his head, he decided to abandon the exercise for the day, and started shuffling his feet slowly through the dusty walkways toward his house. There was no escaping his own emotions. They made themselves Those were the worst of all. Naruto would gladly feel a thousand headaches to be rid of them.

If only he could experience their positive emotions too...

If he could feel the woman's satisfaction in the face of a plate of dumplings with red bean paste, if he could sense the affection the couple had for one another, if he could understand the cherished memories that cause one to mourn a loss, if he could experience the excitement a miracle cure could bring, if he could know what it felt like to feel hope and camaraderie like that genin team, if he could feel the respect of those around him... if he could feel a mother's love. Maybe he could be happy too.

_Despondency._ There was no point in dreaming of the impossible. So, he kept shuffling his feet forward, doing his best to confine his senses to himself.

Unfortunately, it's hard to see where you're going when you lock yourself up like that.

"Hey, watch it kid._" __Annoyance. _The feeling washed over him like a tidal wave, and for a moment Naruto felt like he was drowning in it. Physical contact amplified the stimulus beyond just being noticed, his brain felt like it had skirted to close to fire and been singed.

Trying to catch his breath, he had to tilt his head back to look at the man, and in doing so his hood fell back, allowing for his face to come into view.

"S-s-sorry, sir." A nervous boy stuttered out, trying to be polite, and mindful that he hadn't been paying attention to what was in front of him.

Yet the man's face twisted in recognition at the sight of his exposed face, and recoiled away from him. "Get Lost." The man spat at him, before stomping off. _Aggravation_.

Naruto nodded his head meekly, then put one in front of the other, and quietly began moving.

A boy standing barely three feet tall, made for a less than imposing sight, but the people in front of him parted all the same, moving off to the side, giving him a wide berth in the streets. The whispers followed in his wake. Despite how hard Naruto tried to blot them out, as flustered as he was now, there came all at once.

"There's that boy." _Alarm._

"I can't believe the Hokage just lets him walk around the village like that." _Dis__may__._

_Fury. _It came so strongly that Naruto had to look, only to find it originating from the crimson-haired lady from earlier. Her face was scrunched up in a horrible glare, the hair on her head had even begun to rise, her eyes started to glow. Terrified that she was going to attack him, Naruto sped up, missing the curious glance of her daughter. As he moved on, he felt a surge of helplessness take the fury's place, but barely noticed in the face of the upcoming dread.

"Is anyone keeping an eye on him?_", _a startled woman asked checking the rooftops for any signs of ninja, "What if he's up to something?" _Distress_.

"I can't even see it walking around without seeing my boys' names on the memorial stone._" __Resentment._

"It's no wonder Lady Tsunade left the village._" __Disgust._

"To think the Senju have fallen so low." _Revulsion._

"Lord First must be rolling over in his grave." _Loathing._

"Rumour has it," one gossip said in a hushed tone to another "He sent the Fourth to an early grave of his own." _Outrage._

"Someone should really do something about that." _Anger._

"It'd be no less than what that demon deserves." _Hatred_.

Naruto could stand it no longer, his composure slipped from his face and the tears begin to trail down his face. He broke into a sprint, willing his legs to move as fast as they could to escape, racing against the voices on the way to his house, away from them all.

_Misery._

* * *

Naruto made good time, yet it had felt like ages in his current state. Soon finding himself in front of a large mansion on the outskirts of the village, surrounded by a lush forest that grown over the decades to hide the once prominent estate. Having arrived at his residence, he went inside, trying now to pay attention to the boredom of the ANBU sentries stationed around the perimeter, in a bid to get his mind off of earlier.

Walking through the door, Naruto did not feel the need to announce his arrival as it wasn't like anyone would be waiting up for him. There were more than a dozen bedrooms inside the old Senju mansion, and still he was the only inhabitant.

He went to the kitchen and started to prepare himself something for dinner. There wasn't much selection to choose from, but there was still plenty of instant ramen left to eat, so he went about boiling some water to boil and tearing the stock packages open.

Being a Senju meant that he never worried about going without. Anything you could buy at least. He never had to worry about hungry, the cold, or shelter. Still, Naruto did not keep much food in his house, he found most of his fresh food in the forest where he could avoid the street vendors of the village and the need to haggle over produce and fish. He could stock up on ramen, and other non-perishables by simply leaving money in their place on the shelves.

He supposed he should feel lucky at having inherited so much wealth, but Naruto had seen poor orphans in the village, and though their lives did not seem easy, they still managed to smile from time to time. If Naruto could trade his house and fortune in exchange for being treated like everyone else, he would have done it a long time ago.

Scarfing down enough ramen that his stomach began to hurt, Naruto retired to the mansion's study, where he could spend the rest of the day reading some of the scrolls piled up on the shelves in there.

He grabbed one of Tobirama's scrolls, and began to immerse himself in the basics of one his preliminary theories on his Teleportation jutsu. The only thing Naruto enjoyed about being a Senju was being able to read about all the secret techniques of his ancestors, and he especially enjoyed all the little notes Lady Mito had left all over the pages, chastising Lord Second about how he would have disintegrated his body into a billion pieces and flung them into the void if not for her ingenious seal that would act as an anchor to compile all his parts at the same place, and in the same state they left in. Naruto couldn't make heads or tails of Lord Second's notes, but he did enjoy the familiarity he found in Lady Mito's formulas, but more so in her good-natured hazing.

Naruto had never been really interested in being a ninja, he knew it was expected of him. But he knew what it was like to be hurt, and the thought of doing that to someone else...

Jutsus were cool though, and super-secret clan jutsus were even cooler. The chance to learn something from his ancestors if even from their notes was very appealing to him. So, with new inspiration, Naruto ran off to the library to find a book on fuinjutsu so that he could start to understand Lady Mito's formulas.

On his way to the library, Naruto noticed a large slug with familiar colouring had appeared on the floor, and his heart skipped a beat. He immediately stopped what he was doing, and ran to it.

The slug bowed its antennae to him, "Greetings, Lord Naruto."

"Hello, Lady Katsuyu," he bowed swiftly, "Do you have news from Kaa-san?" he asked in eager anticipation.

The boss of the slug summons nodded, kinda, and dissolved around a box, "Lady Tsunade sends this, with all her love."

Naruto wasted no time in snatching it, ignoring its slimy coating, and ran off to bring all of his letters he had been writing since the last time his mother had sent a package.

Lady Katsuyu took them graciously, and he thanked her profusely, before he climbed up on to the roof, to open it as the sun went down.

Inside the box was a grass-green haori with the Senju clan symbol embroidered on the back, and a letter addressed to him from his mother. Naruto threw on the haori with a beaming smile, ignoring that it was easily a size too small for him.

Naruto had never met his mother, not really. Of course, she had given birth to him, and she'd apparently taken care of him when he was a baby. But by the time he was old enough to remember things, she had gone somewhere else. Despite this, Naruto adored her. Having been heard so many incredible stories about her from the Hokage, and reading all about her in books. She was Tsunade Senju, the First Hokage's granddaughter, the Second's niece, the Third's student. One of the legendary Sanin, the world's foremost medical-nin, and easily its greatest kunoichi. Renowned both for her unworldly beauty and ungodly strength. She was someone who'd changed the face of the Elemental Nations, both figuratively and literally. A hero of the Second Shinobi World War, the Slug Princess, and the inheritor of the Senju's Will of Fire.

Letters from her, were beyond precious to him.

He wasn't entirely sure why she'd left, but Naruto had no doubt that it was for a good reason, so he anxiously awaited her return.

He tore open the envelope, unfolded the paper, cast a hopeful gaze on the hastily scratched words rife with spelling mistakes and long tangents about an inn-keeper she didn't care for, before he began to cry tears of joy. She had made him a promise.

She'd had enough of traveling, the situation among the Elemental Nations seemed to have finally stabilized after the Kyuubi attack, she'd given up on trying to track down Jiraiya (his lecherous, perverted, scoundrel of a father), Shizune had learned more than any other medic-nin in the village from her already, and most importantly of all, she missed him dearly.

His mother promised that she was coming home. Within the week, they would be together again, as a family.

All the hurt in the world would not have wiped the grin from his face. As the sun set on Konohagakure, a young boy sitting alone on a rooftop was for the first time in his life, truly happy.

* * *

**Uchiha Compound**

"I'm home." The words echoed throughout the house, and Satsuki popped up from the floor, quickly abandoned her colouring book to barrel towards the door at the sound of her older brothers' voice.

"Itachi-nii! You're home!" She cried out in joy as she collided into his back, and clutched onto his shirt with her tiny hands, as he took off his shoes.

"Uh-huh." Itachi grunted as he patted his little sister on her head, before making his way down the hall to the kitchen where he suspected his mother would be this time of day.

"Tired, Nii-san?" Satsuki inquired, as she chased after him, leaping gleefully in an attempt to match his longer strides.

They found their mother preparing dinner, and she too greeted her son by bending down and giving the still quite young boy a kiss on his cheek, and smiled at the two of them together. "You know, from the moment you leave the house, Satsuki's waiting for you to come home."

"Hmph." Satsuki huffed in embarrassment at her mother's story, and held her breath, how couldn't she be excited by Itachi coming home, when he's been gone all day!

The air welled up behind her cheeks was soon expelled when a bashful Itachi gave her another pat on the hand, and all embarrassment was immediately forgotten in favour of spending time with her brother.

"I want to go on missions too!" She loudly declared, it was so boring around the house with Itachi gone, and she was certain that ninja missions were better than Itachi let on.

Her older brother laughed as he again set out walking towards their father's room, "It's still too early for you yet, you'll have plenty of missions in a few years."

Satsuki groaned at her brother's remarks, she was already four! Itachi was twice her age, she'd have to live her whole life again before she could go on missions. Nonetheless, she followed her brother.

Itachi had made it to their father's room, soon enough before her that they were already in the middle of conversation, so by the time she could make out what they were saying, they were about done.

"Th-thank you, sir..." Her brother thanked her father. The look on relief on his face was plain to see, which was rare for the boy, and it made Satsuki happy just to see it.

Before she could ask Itachi about the good news, her father spoke again, "The Village Officials recommended you personally, not your Jonin Instructor. You are a rare case. Make sure you meet their expectations."

"I will." The young Genin affirmed resolutely, despite the fact that some of the relief had faded from his face.

Desperately wanting to join the conversation, Satsuki pushed her way past her brother, and wedged herself between them, "Hey, Tou-chan, what's happening with Ita?" She asked, her voice filled with excitement.

"Nothing you need be concerned with," The smile that had been on Fugaku's face had dimmed at her entrance, and with it, the smile on Satsuki's had vanished, "Go help your mother with dinner."

Satsuki huffed, shoved her way past Itachi, and ran to the kitchen where she found her mother hard at work. The sullen girl appeared at her mother's side with a very noticeable frown, when her mother gave her a curious look as to ask what was wrong, Satsuki told her, "I have to help with dinner!"

Mikoto, being the knowledgeable kunoichi and housewife that she was, understood immediately, and nodded her head, "Oh, thank goodness!" She exclaimed to her daughter, "I thought I was going to have cut all these tomatoes all by myself." And gestured to the pile of plump red vegetables on the other side of the counter, and she smirked as Satsuki's eyes lit up again.

"I can help!" The girl declared, bouncing on her feet at the thought.

The Uchiha Matriarch grinned widely as she produced a kunai from nowhere, spun it around in a blur on her index finger before burying it in the cutting board closest to the tomatoes. "Well then, better get to it."

Satsuki rushed to retrieve the kunai as fast as she could, well she would have had her mother not grabbed her by the shoulder and scolded her for something about running in the kitchen, as the older woman made her way to the fridge.

She could smell the smoked tuna shavings as soon as they were taken out of the refrigerator, and the smile on her face began to hurt as it spread so widely across her face at the thought of her favourite meal being prepared. Her mother was the best.

* * *

**Senju Mansion**

A month from the day, and Naruto again found himself sitting alone atop his rooftop, with the same letter in his hand, reading it over again for the hundredth time. Being watched by the Great Stone Faces of his grand-sires.

He had been to see the Hokage that day, braving the bustling streets and the judgmental stares of the ninja on duty inside the Hokage's office, all so he could get the Hokage to check on his mother, as something had obviously prevented her from coming home. He used the letter as proof to convince the God of Shinobi that she was in danger. Beset by bandits, attacked by her rogue teammate, kidnapped by another village... something must have happened.

The Hokage had listened to him, the Hokage had understood, the Hokage had frowned and told him that his student had been sighted in Tanzaku-gai only a few days ago, having bypassed Konoha entirely on her way from the Land of Tea. The Hokage had assured him that she was safe but had felt guilty and dishonest when he told Naruto that he had no idea what she was doing there.

_Pity_. The Hokage pitied him, more than Naruto had ever felt anyone pity anyone or anything. Old Man Sarutobi had tried to comfort him, and made the mistake of touching him, heaving the entire weight of his pity onto Naruto's young shoulders.

Naruto had asked for permission to go and find her himself, the Hokage had dismissed this out of hand, a child couldn't be allowed to venture out alone. Naruto had asked to pay for an escort, the Hokage had told him that Naruto would only be a liability and that his mother avoided other ninja out of habit. Naruto had asked to be allowed to hire the village's best trackers, its best ninja to help him find her, then the Hokage had become stern; only chūnin ranked ninjas and up were allowed to leave the village for personal reasons, no exceptions, and Naruto wasn't even an academy student yet.

So, Naruto had left the Hokage's office, and for the first time ever, he didn't notice the emotions of those around him. If only because his own held his undivided attention.

Back atop his house, reading the letter, trying to find something in it that suggested a possible delay, it wasn't until a teardrop fell onto the page leaving a blot on the ink did he realize he was crying. He let the letter slip from his hand, and watched it blow away into the wind. He stood, dropped the haori from his shoulders, stared at the faces of the First & Second, and when they did not have any answers to give him, he climbed down from the roof.

If he needed to be a chūnin to find his mother, Naruto would become a chūnin. He would become a ninja, he'd become a ninja of such skill that he'd make chūnin in record time. He was going to find his mother, so she could tell him herself what was keeping her. That was a promise that'd be kept. No matter what.

Naruto walked back into his house, and made for the study. There was a scroll in there on one of Uncle Tobirama's forbidden jutsus that would speed him along, and eventually, help find her. It wouldn't matter where she was, or when she was, he'd be able to be everywhere at once. Sooner or later, he was going to find her.

* * *

**Uchiha Compound**

"Nii-san, you promised you'd help me with my shurikenjutsu!" an outraged little sister yelled, brandishing sharp metal objects at her bashful older brother as he got ready to leave in the foyer of their home.

A wide-eyed ANBU agent attempted to talk her down, "I'm sorry, Imouto, but I've got to go on an urgent mission. As an ANBU, I can't help it when I have to leave. I swear the next time I'm free, I'll help you as much you like."

"But you promised..." a disappointed, yet mostly mollified Satsuki protested.

Seeing he was almost there, Itachi was about to lift her spirits, when the stern voice of their father made itself known, "That's enough, Satsuki," the reprimand startled the kunai out of her small hand, and it was the only extraordinary skill of her elder brother that it managed to avoid landing on her feet, while still not alerting the attention of the Uchiha patriarch.

"Itachi is a respected member of the ANBU, performing his duties for the Clan and the village, he does not have time to cater to the whims of children." Fugaku scolded.

"Y-yes, sir." a chastened Satsuki answered, with a bowed head.

Itachi, however, was not so affected, and met his father's gaze coldly, who met it for as long as he thought necessary, before taking his leave. Turning to his little sister, Itachi tapped her on the forehead, "I'll see you soon, Imouto." and he too left.

Satsuki, left alone in the foyer, stood still for a moment and tried to sort out how she felt, before deciding to go find her mother.

She found her, in the living room, folding clothes and humming a tune. Satsuki ran up to her, and started explaining the situation to her as fast as she could, "Kaa-chan, Itachi-nii promised that he would help me with my shurikenjutsu, but he had to go on a mission, so now I don't have anyone to help with my training, and if I don't get help with my training, I'll never be able to match nii-san, and tou-san won't-"

"Alright, take it easy," Mikoto warned before Satsuki was about to explode, "Start over, and slower."

Satsuki explained her predicament again to her mother, struggling to contain herself.

Mikoto smiled knowingly, and patted her daughter on the head. "Would you like me to help you with your shurikenjutsu?"

"It wouldn't be the same, Kaa-chan, this is serious!" Satsuki huffed, then promptly froze as the temperature of the room dropped well below zero, and she slowly turned to the horrifying gaze focused on her, staring through her with red eyes glowing in the darkness, her mother asked "Do you think I'm unqualified to teach my own daughter about shurikenjutsu?"

Satsuki shook her head so hard it threatened to fall off, "No! No! You can definitely teach me! We should go right now actually!"

Just like that, Mikoto returned to normal and smiled, and the mother & daughter grabbed their things.

Leaving the house, Mikoto decided to run some errands in the village first with her daughter as company, and though put off, Satsuki wisely did not complain.

* * *

On their way into the village, they passed _Uchiha Senbei_, the bakery with the best rice crackers in the whole village run by an older couple, Uruchi-ba was outside sweeping in front of their store when she noticed Satsuki walking along with her mother.

"Good morning, Satsuki," the elderly lady greeted, "Off to the village with your mother, are you?"

Satsuki nodded eagerly, "Uh-huh, we're going to pick up some tomatoes from the grocer!"

"Oh, aren't you precious," Uruchi gushed, "it won't be long now till you have youngsters of your own, and dragging them along with you, just like your mother."

Balking, Satsuki denied it, "No way, I'm going to be an awesome ninja like my brother." as Mikoto laughed.

"Ah, more like your mother than you know," Uruchi joked, "Speaking of your older brother, I just saw him walk by, and he has grown into quite the strapping young man. Such a talented ninja, graduating from the academy at the age of seven, and a chūnin by ten."

"Yeah, and he'd activated his Sharingan when he was eight." Satsuki agreed on her favourite topic of conversation.

"That's right, isn't it. The pride of the Uchiha Clan, no doubt about it," Uruchi commented, "By the way, Satsuki, how old are you now?"

Satsuki stiffened in embarrassment, knowing that she had not come close to matching her brother's accomplishments when he was her age.

Thankfully, Teyaki-ji arrived to rescue, "Now, now, dear, that's enough of that."

Uruchi turned to her husband, "Enough?"

"The girl has plenty of time to become an excellent ninja just like her older brother, and all the time in the world to choose if she wants little ones of her own," Teyaki looked to Satsuki, "You just do your best, study hard, mind your mother, and you'll do fine. No matter how things turn out, we'll be proud of you."

Satsuki nodded in relief, then bid her goodbyes along with her mother, "See you later, Teyaki-ji, Uruchi-ba!"

* * *

The course of the days events had left Satsuki with a lot to think about, and she deeply wanted to discuss them wither her mother, yet she was having a difficult time working up the nerve to do so.

Her feelings regarding how she matched up to her brother, were too still raw for her to even comprehend, so she refrained from asking about that, so she asked the next thing that came to mind, "Kaa-chan, why does father treat me like I'm not as good as Itachi."

The question did not seem to surprise, Mikoto, who had been preparing for it for some time now, "It's not that your father thinks you're any bit less than your brother, Satsuki, it's just that he treats you both differently because you're different people."

Satsuki was not satisfied with this answer, and voiced a long-held suspicion, "I bet if I was a boy, he'd treat me the same."

Mikoto laughed, to her daughter's chagrin, "Oh, come now, Satsuki. That has nothing to do with it. Your father acts the way he does, because he has responsibilities that come with being the head of the clan."

"What does that have to do with this?" asked Satsuki, failing to see the connection.

"Your father is a clan head, and because of that, he has to represent the Uchiha Clan, and Itachi as more than just a father. He has to ensure that Itachi is the best ninja that he can be, though this is done partly to increase the prestige of the clan, and honour the village, he does it mostly to keep Itachi safe." Mikoto explained, "You're still so young, you've only ever seen Itachi in the next stage of life. When you become a ninja, you'll notice it too."

Satsuki had begun to understand, "But why-"

"I know your father can seem strict and distant sometimes, but that's only because that's how he was raised to be, how he's expected to be. It's his way of protecting you, to make you stronger. Don't ever think for a moment it's because he doesn't love you with all his heart," Mikoto assured, "And can I tell you a secret?"

The young girl nodded, "When I'm alone with your father, you're all he talks about."

Satsuki's widened, "What?"

"That's right, he wants to know every detail of your day, all your triumphs and all your hardships. You're always on his mind, Satsuki." Mikoto told her, "And mine too."

Satsuki blushed, trying not to be seen by the other passersby.

When they found herself in the centre of the village, they were momentarily brought to another stop by a passing object, a young boy sprinted past them with a determined look on his face.

Satsuki scoffed at the boy getting in their way, but her mother giggled, and she looked to Mikoto for an explanation. "Do you know that boy, Kaa-chan?"

Mikoto shook her head, "Not personally, but I do know of him, I'm glad he seems to found an outlet to occupy his time."

Staring up her mother, Mikoto pulled her to the side, and took a knee to look her daughter in the eye, "Satsuki, I'd like you to make me a promise, can you do that?"

Satsuki, taking note of the seriousness in her mother's tone, nodded her head resolutely.

"I want you to give that boy a chance," Mikoto asked, even as her daughter frowned, "I had a friend like that once, and if he's even a bit like her, it'll be worth your while to have him as a friend."

Satsuki did not see the point of having boys as friends when, nor did she understand why her mother thought that about a boy that they'd only see running around in the streets, but Satsuki was not going to second guess her mother. "Alright, Kaa-chan, I promise I will."

"Good girl." her mother patted her on the head with a tranquil smile, and they continued on their errand.

After a little while, a thought occurred to Satsuki, "What happened to your friend, Kaa-chan?"

The smile on her mother's face was replaced with a frown that only those close to you could recognize, "We lost touch."

Satsuki thought that was very strange considering what her mother had just said about her friend, but let it go.

It'd been a long day for her already, and she was just looking forward to dinner.

* * *

**Senju Mansion**

Naruto was wondering if he had what it took to be a ninja.

He knew he possessed the essential components, he was athletic and hard-working, he could be stealthy and clever, and he had inherited incredible genes from his family.

It wasn't boasting, but Naruto knew he was stronger than other children his age, children much older than him, even most adults. His mother's legendary strength might well be the result of perfect chakra control, but the Hokage himself said that she had always possessed ridiculous strength. Lord First was known to be able to fight a battle for over a day and still be able to go on, no worse for wear. The vitality of the Uzumaki clan was so renown that it bordered on fantasy.

Naruto still took the concept of tiredness on hearsay. The only reason he slept was because it got dark at night, and since his decision to start training seriously, he'd forgone that mostly in place of lighting candles to read.

And then there was his chakra. As a sensor, Naruto truly understood the depth of his reserves. It dwarfed even the Hokage's, it surpassed the entire village.

Picking up a kunai from his side, Naruto cut the back of his other hand, and watched with fascination as it healed before it could even begin to bleed. The fabled healing ability of the First and the vitality of Uzumaki Clan. It would be difficult to kill him, he didn't think bloodloss, injuries to internal organs, or head trauma were even capable of getting the job done. By his estimates from sensory readings near the hospital, chakra exhaustion was less likely than getting struck by lightning - forty-seven times.

These were the gifts his ancestors had passed down to him. Yet despite all these traits, the wealth of knowledge at his disposal, and a desire to become a great ninja, he still wondered.

Could he hurt someone? Could he kill someone? For money? Ninja are meant to endure, but could he endure that? How could he possibly experience the emotions of someone hurting, dying and know he was responsible?

If was going to become a chūnin, he was going to have to do those things. One didn't become a chūnin by sitting around, sucking on their thumb.

He was taken out his musings by a knock at the door, and he rose to answer.

"Ah, good morning, Naruto-kun." greeted the celebrated Third Hokage, in his ceremonial robes. Naruto noticed he seemed to be in a good mood judging by the smile on his wrinkled face plus the lack of anything sense-worthy, and then there was also the matter of the person standing next to the Hokage, an ANBU operative with a white mask in the shape of a beak.

Naruto bowed, "Hello, Lord Hokage." and invited them in.

"No time for that today, I'm afraid," he explained with a wave of his hand, "I've brought your tutor to instruct you in the ninja arts." Lord Third gestured to the ANBU beside him.

Naruto scowled, the Hokage had sent for him the other day to explain to him that he was to be taught how to be a ninja. The Hokage had not seemed pleased either at the time, nor did he tell the truth with his explanation that his parents wanted him to be trained in their absence. Naruto had come to the conclusion that despite the Hokage knowing of his sensing ability, he still hadn't worked out that Naruto could tell when he was lying.

So, it was strange to find the Hokage here, seemingly pleased by the idea.

"Now, now, don't be like that Naruto-kun, I'm sure Crow here will be an excellent instructor." the Hokage claimed, apparently his reservations faded with his choice. "I'll leave you two to it." Lord Third bid his leave, and waved goodbye to them over his shoulder as he walked away, leaving a trail of smoke in his wake.

'Crow' walked past Naruto, and entered his house without taking off his shoes, "So, where's the training ground?" the ANBU asked non-nonchalantly, Naruto could tell from the pitch of Crow's voice that he was indeed a he.

Naruto told him where it was, and they headed there. On the way, Naruto sized him up; he had short, black hair that hadn't been tended to for a while. He was taller than the admittedly short Hokage who had hunched in his old age. He had an average build for a ninja, and there was tanto on his back common for the ANBU of the village. All in all, Crow was unassuming, like an ANBU ought to be.

Naruto respected the ANBU, how could he not? They were the creation of his great-uncle, and they didn't seem to hate being around him like most people in the village did. So, while Naruto did not have anything against Crow personally, he still did not desire an instructor.

He had been doing quite well with his training on his own. He studied the scrolls of his Clan diligently, and had learned a great deal from them. He made sure to exercise regularly, and eat nutritious meals. Nor was he foolish to think that training alone did not cement mistakes, which is why he had learned to summon experts from the Land of Toads to teach him how to really fight. The great toad-sages were regular visitors to his house now, and they were quite pleased to help him with anything he wanted to know. Naruto also deeply appreciated their company, even if they mentioned his father too much for his tastes.

However, that was all inconsequential, and Naruto could even see the benefits of having an experienced teacher. The deal-breaker was the fact the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu was technically forbidden because it evenly divided one's chakra among each individual clone, which to the ordinary ninja would result in instant death, even if the jutsu was actually quite simple to learn. One had to be a jōnin for their reserves to be even considered large enough to use it. For a child, not even in the academy, it would be mad to think they could do it safely. But Naruto was not an ordinary case, he could split his chakra a thousand ways and still have plenty. Still, Naruto wasn't going to risk anyone finding out he'd been doing it a lot lately.

So, while Crow may well be an upstanding ninja from the village's most prestigious unit, Naruto didn't see how having him around was going to benefit his training.

Once they reached the grounds, Crow took a place a few feet away from Naruto. "Okay, so first things first, let's see what you got, come at me." commanded the ANBU.

"What do you mean 'what I got', 'come at you'?" queried Naruto, confused at those combinations of words, and wondering how they might possibly be instructions of some sort.

Crow stood there silent for a moment, and tilted his head, and while Naruto expected to sense something negative from the ANBU, he felt nothing, "You know... try to attack me, so I can figure out what we should work on." explained Crow in a tone of voice Naruto considered strange for an ANBU, but understood nonetheless.

Naruto did as Pa had taught him, it would be a far cry from Frog Kumite as he had no idea how to control Natural Energy, but he was close enough to Crow, and strong enough that it would serve for this purpose. Naruto assumed his stance, even though Crow made no move to do so either, and then kicked his back foot off the ground in a leap that sent him hurdling for the nearby Crow, and landed a clean right cross on Crow's masked face.

Crow, did not seem as prepared as Naruto had previously thought him to be. As evident by the fact that Crow was knocked clear off his feet, and sent tumbling a few yards away, landing with a groan.

"Ughhhhh, that really hurt." moaned the fallen ANBU.

Naruto felt the pain coming from Crow, and began to feel immense guilt, so he started to apologize profusely, "I'm really sorry, Senpai. I didn't mean to hurt you or anything, I guess I just went too early or someth-"

"Boy, you really got one scary right hand there, kid." complimented the ANBU after turning to face him again, but it was not his words that made Naruto freeze in fear, but the fact that Naruto had knocked his mask off to reveal Crow's face. Crow had black eyes. Crow was an Uchiha.

Now, apparently the Senju & Uchiha clans were supposed to have this legendary rivalry, and every member of each clan was supposed to hate the other. Naruto would have said that it was news to him, except that a few Uchihas in the Military Police Force had indeed gone out of their way to inform the only Senju in the village that they did indeed hate him, and being something of an expert in that area, he could confirm that they really, really did.

And then there was the fact that Naruto had just knocked off an ANBU's mask, he was pretty sure that meant he had compromised the identity of a ninja on a black op, and that one or both of them would have to be eliminated.

Seeing Naruto's pale face, Crow asked "Hey kid, you okay? Looks like you've seen a ghost."

"There's a ghost?!" Naruto fainted, overloaded with fear.

* * *

Moments later, Naruto was revived by a curious Crow, and left to look into the terrifying dark eyes of his killer.

Naruto screamed.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy, kid." Crow tried to calm him down.

Naruto stopped for a second, before realizing that telling people to stop screaming was a thing people did before they killed them. So, he screamed again with purpose, "Help! Help! He's going to kill me!" Later, Naruto would be embarrassed by this whole encounter, not for least of which was that the Hokage had sent Crow himself.

"What're you talking about? Be quiet. Someone might hear you." Crow covered his mouth with his hand, and sent Naruto into a terrified panic, soon biting the wannabe murderer with all his might. "Ouch!" Crow shouted in pain, and on instinct walloped Naruto on the head, like he would anything that had just bit him.

Naruto too acted on instinct, albeit one that was angered by having just been hit in the head by his killer, and lashed out with a kick from his position on his back with all his might, amplified amateurishly by his chakra, which translated into Crow being sent flying into the tree line, resulting in several loud cracks of hopefully branches.

Rushing to his feet, Naruto considered his escape routes, he could run inside his house and lock all the doors and hope he'd go away, or go find the Hokage and seek his protection, or create hundreds of clones to use as decoys, or he could summon Ma & Pa and have them destroy Crow, or he could improvise a seal that would teleport Crow away into an alternate dimension were Naruto was older and more experienced and capable of making a decision on short notice, or he could-

Naruto was taken out of his musings by the sound of laughter coming from the tree line, and he soon took notice of Crow running toward him with a big, dopey smile on his face. Naruto returned to his fighting stance immediately, preparing to defend himself against the crazed lunatic assaulting him, but before that happened, Crow exclaimed jovially "You're pretty fun to hang out with, kid!"

Naruto sweat-dropped, sensing no deceit from the ninja, but still thoroughly weirded out by him.

"So, you must have already had some training then, I'm guessing that the Hokage didn't know about. You're really strong already," Crow spoke excitedly, "Or did the Hokage trick me, and he's been secretly training you since birth, and chose me to test out your abilities?"

Naruto really wanted the earth to swallow him whole.

Soon, Crow was prodding Naruto's face with his fingers, "Huh? Huh? How'd you get so good for your age, huh?"

"My Toad summons taught me, okay!" Naruto snapped.

Crow whistled, "Wow, that's pretty cool. So, you can summon toads just like Lord Jiraiya can, huh? Are you guys related?" before Naruto could answer, Crow continued as if he hadn't asked a question, "Can you summon slugs like your mom?"

"Ye-" Naruto began... then was interrupted.

"I can summon crows, you know." Crow claimed, then performed a great deal of hand signs in a flash that Naruto couldn't begin to keep up with, bit his thumb and then slammed his hand on the ground.

There was burst of smoke, followed by a swarm of black birds screaming into existence, cawing and flapping their wings in a terror. Naruto stumbled back to the ground in a fright.

Soon, all the crows were perched on Crow, who stood in front of Naruto chucking softly at the feel of their little talons grasping to his arms and head, before he had a revelation and turned to him, "Naruto, look! I'm a murder-er!" and broke into a fit of giggles.

This was quickly becoming Naruto's oddest interaction of his young life, and his longest in general.

"Show me one of yours!" Crow pleaded.

Naruto acquiesced and began the hand signs himself, as quickly as he could in an attempt to not be outdone by Crow, and soon summoned his own ninja beast, "Summoning Jutsu!" he roared.

Suddenly, an enormous toad, the size of a stall landed where Crow was standing, crushing whatever was beneath him.

Naruto paled.

His summons had just squashed Crow. He had just killed Crow. He had just killed a member of the ANBU Black Ops on his property.

They were going to kill him. There was no way he could cover this up, he didn't have what it took to be a secret murderer holding on to such a terrible secret. He had just killed his tutor, and they were going to haul him off to Torture & Interrogation before throwing his body off the Hokage Monument.

A storm cloud appeared over Naruto's head, and he bent down to start drawing circles in the ground, and he started to bawl.

Then all of a sudden, a murder of crows flickered in front of him and joined themselves back together as Crow, staring at him with activated Sharingan, crimson eyes baring into his soul.

"Wow, now that was impressive, I've never summoned a crow any bigger than usual." Crow complimented.

Poor Naruto was having a hard time understanding what was going on, "Huh?" he asked wiping the tears and snot from his face.

Crow tilted his head again, and seemed to ponder Naruto's sad state, "Hey, what's wrong, little guy?"

"You're alright, Crow!" Naruto shouted in realization, exulting with his new lease on life and the clearing of his conscience.

Crow tried to decipher the younger boy's words, '_You're alright_,' was that a compliment? Of course, he was alright, why wouldn't he be? Crow hadn't seemed to have noticed his near-death experience at the feet of Naruto's summoned toad. 'Oh, he must mean the eyes,' Crow 'realized'.

Crow continued and dropped to one knee, and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Listen kid, I don't care about that Clan rivalry stuff."

"What?" a confused Naruto asked, but before he could clarify, he realized that Crow's touch did not bring any sensations of negative emotions, not even the slight malaise feeling practically everyone felt all the time. This caused Naruto to follow up on Crow's last remark, "You don't?"

Crow nodded, "Not at all. In fact, my grandfather was Kagami Uchiha, he was on Lord Second's squad during the war, he spoke really highly of him, and everyone knows Lord First was a Senju and he built the village, so I've got nothing but respect for the Senju. And anyway, I consider everyone in the village to be my family."

Crow smiled at him, it was not a sight Naruto often saw directed at him.

Naruto felt a strange clench in his chest at Crow's words, and felt obligated to say something nice back, "I guess not all the Uchiha are so bad then."

Crow laughed louder than Naruto thought was polite, "Some of us are okay, I'm the easiest to get along with though, my cousins aren't too bad either."

"Aren't you supposed to hide your identity?" Naruto asked of the ANBU.

"What? Why would I do that?" Crow answered, badly.

"Because the ANBU are supposed to remain anonymous in order to prevent their identities from being used against them." Naruto answered, kind of mentally exhausted at this point.

Crow nodded, "That's true. The ANBU gotta stay secret and stuff."

"So, why aren't you?"

"Because I'm not in the ANBU, duh." Crow said like it was obvious, and that Naruto was a little slow.

Naruto wondered how Crow had managed to avoid his toad.

"So, why're you pretending to be an ANBU?!" Naruto asked exasperatedly.

Crow looked scandalized, "I've done no such thing, that'd be a serious crime. What made you think that?"

An indignant Naruto answered "The mask only ANBU of our village wear, or the fact you showed up with the Hokage at my doorstep without me having issued a mission, or that your 'name' is 'Crow'. I thought it was pretty obvious."

"Oh that, that was just something the Hokage gave me to make you feel more comfortable, and Crow is just a nickname I took from my cousin, he doesn't get to use it all that much, so I thought I'd borrow it for a while," 'Crow' 'explained', "My name's Shisui by the way, Shisui Uchiha." the bizarre man introduced himself with an outstretched hand.

Naruto had a lot more questions, but the desire to shake someone's hand won out, "Naruto Senju." when Shisui started to squeeze his hand as is standard for a handshake, the young boy with little social experience who quickly reached the conclusion, you were supposed to squeeze someone's hand as hard as you can as some sort of friendly test of strength, might have went a tad overboard.

Thankfully for the bones in Shisui's hands, Naruto immediately stopped squeezing once he sensed the tremendous deal of suffering the older boy was in.

"Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to!" he atoned.

Shisui waved him off magnanimously, 'Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! My hand!.' he screamed in his head.

"Nice to meet you, Naruto-san." gritted Shisui through a pained smile.

Naruto gave a small, apologetic smile of his own, "Likewise, Shisui-san."

Shisui clapped his sore hand together against the one he could still close, and began walking back to the training ground, "Let's try that again, shall we? Now that I know that I'm not dealing with some snot-nosed kid, I'll be ready."

The two of them returned to the field, and began sparring in earnest. With Shisui's Sharingan activated, and him taking things a tad seriously, Naruto never managed to get even remotely close to touching Shisui again. Turns out, fighting people was pretty different compared to fighting toads. It was only due to Naruto's insane stamina and recovery time that he was able to keep up, and by the end of the day, it was not the older of the boys who was willing to keep going.

It was the most fun Naruto had ever had. He was so preoccupied with enjoying their sparring that he never even noticed when Shisui's Sharingan shifted into a shuriken shaped pinwheel. All that Naruto was concerned with was that he had finally made his first friend.

Also that the Hokage knew what he was doing, and that Naruto should always go to him with his problems.

Luckily for Shisui, Naruto was unaware that his sensing abilities dulled, the better the mood he was in.

_Regret. Resignation. Sorrow. Remorse. Shame._

Naruto was in a very good mood indeed.


	2. Seeping Through the Cracks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unusual sparring session between Naruto and Shisui leads to more than either one of them could have expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. So, it's been a while since I updated I know. That's a result of exams and the current apocalypse, so my bad.  
Also, a lot of people seem to be under the impression that it makes absolutely no difference to the story if Tsunade is Naruto's mother if she's not around, as if abandonment is not a plot device as opposed to loving self-sacrifice orphanage, so if those of you can get that now, that'd be great.
> 
> The next chapter should be up soon as this originally meant to be only the first part of a longer chapter.

The day found plenty of blond clones running around within the confines of the Senju compound, tending the gardens as they often did during the day when they weren't training. Utilizing the many books on horticulture and botany in the library, along with liberal use of the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu, Naruto had managed to make the place bloom for the first time since the First Hokakge's day.

The original Naruto was sat down in the solar, tending to a half a dozen bonsai trees. It was a delicate, and relaxing task that he'd come to find quite enjoyable. It was an art form really. Caring for the trees required a great deal of patience and concentration that allowed for him to easily forget the trials of the day, losing himself in the process of gently watering the soil, painstakingly wrapping some wire around the branches to produce the desired shape, and pruning as much as could be spared but not the slightest bit more.

Naruto really needed the distraction, as he was really starting to get aggravated as the day went on, and still no sign of Shisui.

He was currently tending to the youngest, and favourite of his trees. It was still only small, and sprouting from the cracks in a boulder. Naruto did not want to meddle with the shape, but to aid it in its task of breaking the stone apart by pruning only the limbs that shaded lower branches with more leaves to expose it to the most sunlight. Naruto wanted the tree to flourish, to slowly but surely endure its hardship in growing and one day be the largest among his collection.

* * *

Naruto sensed the older boy's presence, well before he managed to walk up behind him, though to the ninja's credit, he'd succeeded in not making a sound. Normally, he would have smiled, but Shisui had been getting on his nerves lately.

"Yo." Shisui appeared in his field of vision, craning his head over the younger boy's shoulder and waving his hand in front of his face in an attempt to startle him.

"I knew you were there, Shisui." he dismissed, as he laid down the pair of scissors in favour of grabbing a handful of mulch.

"Pfft, yeah right, kid." Shisui denied, "Of course, you did. You know everything, don't you?"

Gently dampening the rock with a wet cloth to prevent the tree from drowning, Naruto answered "You came through the window of the bathroom on the third floor."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about your sensory thing," Shisui said with a sigh, Naruto knew he was lying, but it was something he'd become accustomed to while hanging around Shisui. The Uchiha seemed to get a kick out of things like that. He suspected it had to do with Shisui trying to treat him like everyone else, which Naruto appreciated to an extent, but was quickly becoming exasperated by the sheer frequency of such attempts, or more specifically, the manner in which he tried them.

Standing up, he started walking towards the door to the training ground in order to start the day's sparring session. "Come on, Shisui. You're late enough as it is."

"I'm not late, kid. You just have really boring hobbies."

"You're more than two hours late!" Naruto harrumphed. He'd flipped the hourglass twice since noon. He was very particular when it came to training, and he was certain that he wouldn't have left Shisui waiting like that.

His hackles raised, he decided to address the other point of contention on his mind, "And another thing, you better not have broken anything on your way in this time."

"Mah, mah, Naruto." Shisui 'defended' himself, "I paid for that flower pot after, didn't I?"

Naruto scoffed, "That _vase_ was a gift from the Fire Daimyo to the Senju Clan, which predated the Warring States Era, it was a priceless artifact. The fifty ryo you left on the pieces is hardly compensation."

"Well, I'm going to need to see a receipt for priceless then, because I'm not going to overpay for a pot."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Naruto let out a long sigh and tried to regain his composure. 'He doesn't even feel bad about it.'

"I'm serious, Shisui. If you break anything else while you're breaking into my house, I'm going to have the Hokage take it out of your mission rewards."

Shisui was scandalized by that, "Jeez, Naruto, you sure are cranky today. Can't you give a guy a break?"

Naruto knew the remark itself wasn't particularly nasty, and that Shisui wasn't angry or trying to be hurtful, but it upset him nonetheless. The older boy didn't seem to care about his pupil's time, privacy, possessions, or passions.

He was continually irritated by the fact that Shisui didn't realize when he'd hurt his feelings. It was an odd side effect of his ability to sense negative emotions, that he had come to resent when people couldn't sense his, even if he realized that logically it made no sense to expect that. Also, he was disappointed in himself for not taking the chance to explain his feelings to Shisui out of fear of them being dismissed.

More and more, Naruto thought that their friendship meant far more to him than it did to Shisui.

* * *

Taking opposite places on the field, the two of them began a flurry of exchanges.

It wasn't much of a fight in the beginning.

On his best day, Naruto couldn't dream of getting past Shisui's Sharingan. He saw every one of his attacks coming, took notice of every one of his movements, could identify in an instant where his weaknesses were and how to best exploit them. Every one of his attempts to lure Shisui into a trap could be seen through with ease. So incredible were Shisui's Sharingan eyes, that the slightest wrinkle of the fabric of his clothes caused by the tension in his muscles meant that Shisui knew exactly where the attack was coming, nigh instantaneously after Naruto had committed to it.

And this wasn't even one of Naruto's better days. As was soon made apparent to both of them once Shisui landed a big uppercut that was meant to be a feint, and sent Naruto flying back.

Landing with a thud, Naruto took little notice besides mechanically rising to his feet. He was used to the pain, and his healing ability was such that he'd barely even registered the attack. If it had been a real fight, Shisui would have pressed home, and probably killed him. But it did little to shake him out of his funk.

Shisui took note of the amateurish mistake of his young friend, but chalked it up to it being a lucky blow, not bothering to use his Sharingan to play it back in his head for now.

Renewing the spar, Naruto's mind was focused on his conflicted feelings about his budding friendship with his mentor. 'It makes sense though, why should Shisui care as much about it as I do? It's not like I'm the only friend he has.' The certainty that Shisui was the only friend that Naruto did have, was a distressing thought indeed.

Letting down his guard, Shisui swept the feet from out under him and watched as he faceplanted into the dirt. Naruto barely noticed except for the fact that now he had to stand back up.

'I'm not even his best friend,' Naruto knew that Shisui was quite popular in the village, among his clan, and with his fellow ninja. 'Was he feeling jealous? Or inadequate? Or was it something more?'

"Come on, Naruto," Shisui chastised him as the boy picked himself off the ground, "you're going to have to do a lot better than that if you're ever going to beat me."

"Sorry, Senpai," he apologized, "I'll try harder." 'Does he even consider me his friend at all? We only see each when we're training.' Besides the distraction, a strange feeling was welling up in his gut, like a belly ache or an anxious stomach, except not...

Shisui went on the offensive again, and instead of trying to dodge the older boy's attacks, Naruto decided instead to not exert much effort in trying to avoid them. He could withstand the impact without much bother.

'Are we acquaintances? It was really bothering him though.'

Quick jab, followed up by a stiff straight right to his eye.

'Colleagues? He couldn't get his mind off of it though.' The feeling was like a combination of wanting to throw up and getting the wind knocked out of you.

Liver shot, another to the solar plexus then an elbow that glanced off his clavicle.

'Hometown neighbours? He was really overthinking this.' Naruto couldn't even feel the pain anymore, just the weird sensation from his gut, emanating to his extremities, making his fingers tingle and eyes go blurry.

Jab, jab, hook, uppercut combination. Knocking one of the boy's baby teeth out – Naruto swallowed it without a second thought.

'Am I just a student to him?' Peculiarly, Naruto never considered that anything was wrong. It was different from how he usually felt, but nothing to be concerned about, surely...

There were off days, and then there was downright pathetic, and then there was this. Contrary to what Naruto was thinking, Shisui did indeed care for the well-being of his charge, and was himself becoming distracted as he wondered why Naruto was taking so much more punishment than usual. Shisui knew he was a skilled ninja, and that even going light in a sparring session he could handle the kid easily, but he also knew that Naruto was capable of so much more than he was showing, the Senju heir was extraordinarily talented, Shisui had no doubt by the time he was his age, he would have surpassed him by leaps and bounds. It was only Shisui's knowledge of Naruto's ridiculous healing ability and endless stamina that he hadn't stopped this mauling already.

'Is he really this upset over that pot?'

So distracted was Shisui, that even with his Sharingan activated, he failed to notice the unusual movement of chakra emanating from Naruto's abdomen, or the reddish hue that was muddying the boy's eyes.

'No, not his student,' he decided, 'only someone the Hokage him ordered to look after. Just another mission.' Naruto felt a deep, dark pit of hatred well up inside him, but believing it to be an unwarranted flare-up of his temper, did his best to ignore it and focus on the matter at hand.

Absorbing the strikes, he made it so that Shisui had to commit fully to each one, meaning that each time he hit Naruto, it was harder to pull back and go for another. Each kick that landed, meant the other foot was more firmly planted. Each punch meant that Shisui's guard lowered.

'He doesn't care anymore about you than any of the ANBU.'

The next time Shisui went to sweep Naruto's legs, the Senju pivoted on his foot and changed the angle where they were to collide, and when shin bone met shin bone, it was the Uchiha who winced as he pulled it back.

'I bet he cares less even. He has to spend more time here than any of them, and even then he tries to spend as little as he can.'

Rolling with the punches, Naruto swiped past Shisui's hands and the Sharingan watched in terror as the boy's nails nearly tore off one of his retinas.

'He doesn't care about you at all.' _Bitterness._

Shisui watched in awe, as Naruto evaded his combination and landed a solid hit just beneath his guard, staggering him a bit.

'He's just the Hokage's babysitter.' _Fury._

Naruto followed through, headbutting Shisui's counter away and lashing out at his ribs with two savage blows, the irises of his eyes more red now than not, the pupils narrowing into ovals.

'He's just like everybody else.' _Rage._

Stomping on Shisui's feet, he hurled a fist into the ninja's guts, and threw his shoulder into his face.

'All Uchiha hate the Senju.' _Frenzy._

Eyes blaring crimson behind narrowed slits, a body radiating foreign chakra. The boy the villagers so despised, saw his opening.

'Do it!' **_Bloodlust._**

Naruto ignored his teacher's violent coughing fit and launched a flying knee at his head.

Shisui was sent hurdling backward, and it was only years of experience that saw him land on his knees instead of his face, which was now covered in blood pouring like a faucet from his nose and mouth. Looking at Naruto with the fabled 'eyes of insight', he could see what he had missed before. The boy's chakra network was a blaze of fiery red, flowing like molten lava as it threatened to burst out of him.

Glaring down at the wretched Uchiha, marred in the marks of battle, beaten and nearly broken, he wondered how simple it would be to kill him.

Seeing the boy's very skin start to burn up and threaten to be shed, Shisui called out to him, "Naruto!"

Locking eyes with each other, Shisui's eyes began to shift and while the boy in front of him began to growl and postured himself to pounce, in an instant, before Shisui could cast his genjutsu, the red chakra receded.

Staring at the battered form of his friend, covered in bruises, all beaten up and hurt, Naruto wondered if he was alright.

Rushing to his side, Naruto was soon helping him to his feet, "Are you okay, Shisui? I'm sorry I hurt you! I didn't mean to! I can't believe I managed to touch you, let alone do that!"

Confused, but glad, Shisui answered, "I'm fine, Naruto. Don't worry about it, you did great. You'll be a great ninja in no time."

"Ugh, thanks I guess." Naruto could tell the older boy was seriously hurt, and in a great deal of pain, "We should really get you to the hospital."

Waving the boy off, Shisui sat on a bench and caught his breath. He knew he did need medical attention, he was sure that Naruto had cracked a few of his ribs, broken some bones in his foot, and he wasn't feeling great about his jaw either. But first, he had to make sure Naruto was okay.

"How're you doing, Naruto?"

"Huh, I'm fine, Shisui." the boy answered, rather perplexed. He wasn't the one that was hurt after all. _Worry._

"You seemed kinda out of it earlier."

"Oh yeah..." he agreed, and tried to put his finger on what he'd been thinking, "I guess I did sort of space out a bit there, didn't I?"

"Does that happen to you a lot?"

"No, not really," Naruto answered, rubbing the back of his head as he checked whether his shoes were tied, and double-checked, "Only when I'm really upset about something."

Shisui nodded. The Hokage would need to be told. Probably, Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade as well, and Lady Kushina too but that was for Lord Third to decide, not him. The seal was weakening, far sooner than had been expected, and had already degraded to such a worrying degree.

"Naruto."

"Yeah," the boy answered, but continued to try to avoid eye contact, not wanting to bring up his insecurities to his friend. When Shisui didn't continue and imagining the Uchiha staring at him trying to dodge the subject, he finally turned his head and looked his friend in the eye.

_Shame. Regret. Guilt. Remorse. Self-loathing._

Feeling such strong negative emotions from his friend, and assuming that Shisui had felt so bad about breaking the heirloom vase that he had let himself be beaten to a bloody pulp to make up for it. With his lip quivering, and his eyes watering, Naruto latched onto the older boy and began weeping into his shirt. Tears of sadness for hurting his friend, but mostly tears of profound joy brought on in the knowledge that his friend cared about him so much.

In the deep recesses of his mind, within the vaults of subconscious thought, Naruto noticed the idea that it was very important that he made other friends in the village.

As for Shisui, he just ignored the pain from Naruto pushing into his sore ribs. He deserved far worse after all.

Patting the kid on the back, Shisui wondered if the village really deserved Naruto. As of now, he was certain that Naruto deserved better.

And yet, Shisui had done his duty. Because he loved Konoha, and that would just have to be enough. It had to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment if you liked it, or have a question you'd like to ask me.
> 
> Kudos, and bookmark. You know you want to, you just usually forget because you have better things to do.
> 
> A shorter chapter than I'm used to writing, but I feel like it holds up. I had wanted this scene to just be a short push for Naruto to meet Satsuki, but as it progressed, I felt like it deserved to stand alone, it serves to answer a few questions, and I couldn't bear to have it continue after that ending.
> 
> Also, I really wanted to have a dedicated Naruto and Shisui chapter to expand on their relationship. I can't really overstate Shisui's impact on Naruto in this story.

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment me if you liked it, or have any questions you'd like to ask.
> 
> I hope I did not give the impression that Kushina hates Naruto, that is not the case. I know I wrote that Naruto felt she did, but the feeling of helplessness was meant to illustrate that Kushina was mad at the people bad-mouthing him, and then feeling bad that she couldn't help him. Everything with her will be fleshed out later. It's still early stages.
> 
> The Satsuki's scenes are largely ripped from the Itachi Shinden Light Novels, and some of Sasuke's scenes in the anime.
> 
> I'll let people guess the exact cause of Naruto's Negative Sensing Ability. It's not obvious, so have fun guessing.
> 
> No Uzume perspective yet, for two reasons; she isn't one of the two main characters here, and her character at this point is of a happy-go-lucky child, whose reasonably spoiled and sheltered given her backstory. She's kind of a mixture of Menma Namikaze and Sakura from the parallel worlds, along with a side of canon Naruto. Not much to work with at this point. Satsuki's only around to provide a contrast for later.
> 
> I hope I did Shisui justice, he doesn't have much screen or panel time, so I had to elaborate on his character. I think he would be pretty playful with a young child, especially considering how he was trying to gain Naruto's trust.
> 
> A lot of you will probably consider Naruto and Satsuki to be 'overpowered' in this story, and you'll probably be right. But the entire premise demands that they exceed the level of power already achieved canonically. I understand the problems that come along with this, but there are ways to write god-like characters without removing any sense of suspense by losing the stakes or buffing up the other characters to an unbelievable degree or disregarding my own logic regarding their ability and I hope I achieved this here.
> 
> There are also those of you who will believe that Naruto should be considered an OC, but in this case I have to disagree. The Naruto Senju of this fan fiction, will occupy the primary role as canon Naruto, and will share the first same name (it was Jiraiya's idea anyway), so I don't see the need to distinguish the Naruto Senju of this story from canon Naruto, especially considering what Kishimoto did in RTN and the various Eternal Tsukuyomi representations of Naruto's parallel selves.
> 
> Likewise, I don't have any problem with slash in general, though I do have some issue with changing the sexuality of characters so flippantly, and while I understand the hypocrisy of that changing Sasuke's gender, they're parallel characters, not a Sasuke who was really in love with Naruto the entire time. I will reiterate that I have no issue with a gay pairing of the two of them, and Satsuki is not an attempt to do away with homosexuality in a pairing of the main characters. It's supposed to represent a shift in the circumstances of history repeating themselves, do away with any Mpreg suggestions, and most of all, letting me write he & she when they're talking instead of constantly having to clarify whose speaking. Scenes between characters of different genders are a lot easier to write because of this.
> 
> The POV is going to change a lot. It'd be pretty lame to write a battle anime from a single perspective.


End file.
